Bloomberg: Small caps in the US are rising almost twice as fast as bigger companies - a positive signal for domestic demand. Shares of companies from Rite Aid Corp. to Teledyne Technologies Inc. in the Russell 2000 Index (RTY) have advanced 32 percent in 2013, compared with 19 percent for the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The spread is the widest for any year since 2003, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Three of the last four times small-caps outperformed by this much, the economy grew faster the next year and stocks stayed in a bull market for another year or more, based on data from the past 34 years. Investors are betting that growth will pick up despite recent setbacks concerning job numbers and a crisis of confidence on the back of the Government shutdown. (VIEW LINK)